Trustee deserves credit for budget initiative

While we take no position for now on San Diego Unified board member Scott Barnett’s fiscal rescue plan for his deficit-ridden school district, he deserves credit for trying to be constructive. Barnett says his plan would save $92 million by canceling pending raises, making employees pay premiums if they chose more expensive health coverage instead of a free basic plan and imposing a 10 percent pay cut.

Teacher pay cuts would be reversed if voters approved a proposed parcel tax on the November 2012 ballot. Barnett acknowledges voters just rejected such a tax last year but thinks they would be more supportive next time if it were part of a smart overall plan to right the district.

Unfortunately, some school board members still seemed trapped in denial, hoping for a sudden infusion of new state funding that’s much less likely than more cuts because of lagging state revenue. As for the teachers union, it rips Barnett as a political opportunist engaged in “premature alarmism.” Given the credible warnings that the district could soon face insolvency, Barnett’s concern hardly seems premature.